Category Archives: autism

Here’s Abbey asking for the same thing over and over….she’s got a one-track mind today!

It’s been a rough week of not enough sleep for either of us. We’re doing much better now so I’m counting my blessings as she repeats herself over and over, so thankful that it’s in such a nice sentence!:)

We all have days where we are tired and grumpy, right? I think parents with kids with autism can have plenty of them…with kiddos that don’t sleep well and so much to do! It’s too easy to fall into the grumpy trap when things are so overwhelming and then when sleep doesn’t happen..wham, it’s almost too hard to push it away! The worst is when our kiddos pick up on it, as they often do, and become grumpy too!

Well, yes, I’m having a tired and grumpy couple of days. I have to make myself do the things that make me feel better, like walking, not eating just chocolate all day, etc..

So, what do you do to feel better when you are tired and grumpy, autism moms and dads?

Like this:

It’s so important to look back! Sometimes you feel like you’re at a stand still, not making much progress or that it’s just going so slowly. When you look back and see, over time, all the progress there has been, it can give you that motivation again to keep on truckin’! Whether you’ve video taped when they were younger or have old IEP’s to look at or just even old pictures, look back, look at how far you’ve come!! Look at how far we’ve come!!

Click on the video below! And, wait until you see the video on the bottom…a blast from the past!:)

Click on the video below to see Abbey getting ready in the morning, right after we started using a picture schedule for her, before she had a communicating device. It made such a difference with her!

Distraction works wonders with most young children and has been a life savor for me with Abbey! Sometimes we are both getting frustrated and BOTH of us need a distraction! The things that help to distract Abbey vary all of the time. Food works the best, but isn’t the best for her, obviously, so we try not to use that one unless we have to. Fav movies and toys works sometimes as well, but I love the idea of doing something together, something that will distract you both, maybe even relax you both. Abbey and I love going to the park, but don’t go very often, usually only when school is out. She loves music, so sometimes I can just turn on some music and dance with her. A fav distraction for us both, when we’re getting grumpy, is dad coming home from work, saving the day!

This post I read, below, reminded me that there are some great things we can do together when Abbey’s having a bad day, or even when I’m having a bad day and am not feeling as patient as I usually am. Abbey and I like to cook and bake together, we like to water the plants and go look at flowers together, and often times not only are these things great at distracting, they are also great at teaching many things, not just daily life skills, but things like referencing and learning to complete a task together, team work. So, figure out what things you guys like to do together and keep a mental list of them, use them when you or your child are feeling overwhelmed! Sometimes just having fun together can bring that happy feeling back and restore the peace you both need!

Cure the blues, or if meltdowns are happening over and over and you’re both about to lose it, by changing the scenery, changing the mood….go somewhere, work together, or even better, have fun together! Have so much fun that there’s no room left to be grumpy!

Today was a patience testing kind of day. It takes an extraordinary amount of patience to raise a child with autism and I have a lot of it, most of the time…but sometimes, I wonder, do I have enough??

She’s starting to understand more and more what she’s supposed to do and what she’s not, but sometimes the temptations are too much for her and there she goes into everything again, or not stopping to play outside to come in and go potty. She’ll go months and months doing great and then once she does it, seems like she does it over and over and over! She listens well….trick is, as long as I’m patient and firm, together! She can totally tell now when I’m getting frustrated, oh dear!

Abbey has made so much progress communicating and with so many of her really hard behaviors, but why does it seem like when they make great progress in one area, another area gets harder?

It seems like Abbey’s sensory world just gets completely out of control, out of this world crazy sometimes, and we’re seeing it now more than ever! Is it just because she’s so much bigger and older now? She has broken a very long list of things in her house like her window, holes in walls, our couch, her bed, more chairs than I can remember, just to name a few…and none of them when she was mad! She broke all of these things just rocking, bouncing, jumping around in big, huge movements. We have swings inside and out, exercise balls, stuff to chew on, sensory stuff all over our house for her to play with…but it’s just not enough. Will we be able to find something that is enough? I don’t know, but we’re working on it! We’re working on another outside trampoline as her inside one just doesn’t seem to do much for her…but, problem is, she’s so heavy and so rough on things, we need a really good, safe one…yes, expensive, just like everything Abbey needs and breaks! Well, more praying! AND, as we work on these really hard things, we’re just gonna keep on focusing and celebrating the great things that are happening, ’cause that’s what it’s all about!

Yes, Abbey’s loud and does a lot of odd looking things. She’s nonverbal and highly affected by autism. I know the things she does can be really embarrassing for her siblings sometimes. As they get older, I think it gets a bit easier. I’d like to think and I’d hope that her siblings would agree, though, that the Abbey has a lot to teach people. I think she’s taught us all a lot of life lessons and brought a lot of sunshine to our lives!